First impressions of Dubai

Walking up the gangway into the Dubai International Airport, I immediately noticed the modern facilities at this premier arab airport. The mix of people patiently waiting in line at immigration represented a regional blend of cultures, while our line was slow, it was worth the opportunity to casually observe people. Catching the airport taxi was easy and reasonably priced, Noriko had pre-booked a hotel near Al Rigga - this looked like a reasonably exciting area of Dubai.

Wandering around the streets late afternoon not long before dusk was interesting, it appearing the area was coming to life, there were no sights to view, just the chance to observe the locals at play. The afternoon call to prayer had wafted out over the airways, the sky was just starting to turn pink, the setting of the sun appeared to echo the rhythmic chant.

Having made numerous diving trips to the Philippines over the years, I immediately the recognised the Philippine facial features forming the majority of the South East Asians wandering around Al Rigga, I even heard the odd siggi po and salamet spoken. So too did the number of Indian nationals stand out, mixed in are big numbers of Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Sri Lankans. I noticed a number of North Africans wearing both traditional muslim garments and suits.

Caucasians milled around mostly in suits and business attire, presumably directly from the financial district. Then there was the tourists, that is mostly whites like myself getting around in casual attire, I'm guessing central European, based on the accents. I recognised a small number of Chinese women, based on their clothing, I am guessing tourists as well.

If I use the term middle eastern appearance, that is really people with darker complections getting around in well fitting suits, traditional arab attire and casual clothes. I am unable to distinguish exactly what country they hail from, mostly Gulf countries, I suppose. I am also guessing most of these guys are involved in high finance as we took the train through the financial districts and most seemed to be working on deals of some sort.

Dubai is a highly functional city, to me, it feels like a soulless city, people are here working, no doubt saving money but I get the feeling, when their contracts expire, they won't be hanging around. The public transport system is flawless, train stations were clean, well organised and construction was of high quality. There are two lines, a red and green line, we went to the end of the green line - Creek, there wasn't much for us to do there, more of a construction site.

Busses are working major routes from train stations, the roads are well constructed, the traffic flows easily on six lane freeways, toll road signs abound although we never much ventured out on the roads, just the view from the train. I couldn't believe it, the bus stations were air-conditioned, we were abe to use our one-day rail pass on the busses. The red line runs underground in some areas, Al Rigga where we were before ending up well above the traffic heading down towards the marina.

There was still construction going on everywhere, I have read this has abated from the peak, to my eye, there is still plenty going on and I guess this accounts for the majority of the Philippino and Indian populations. I also noticed mostly Philippino women occupied many of the retail positions in the shops, I was trying to determine if other South East Asian countries are represented in occupations here, I really couldn't pick any other nationalities.

There is space, plenty of space, I noticed from the train, buildings are located along the major roads, in some areas, there is vacant land behind the first row of buildings, down the financial district, some gaps between buildings preparing to be built out.
Four days is enough here, a tight budget ensured cheap activities, I can't see myself coming back here anytime soon unless on another stopover. This was my first time, I was interested to see what it was all about and will look to another destination in the future.